A group of 104 ex-Dresdner Kleinwort investment bankers won their long-running dispute against their former employer, after a London judge ruled that the bank broke its promise to pay guaranteed bonuses to them in 2008.

Mr Justice Owen on Wednesday morning ruled that a verbal promise made by the bank - which was then owned by German insurer Allianz - to the bankers in the summer of 2008 constituted a binding contract.